Contrasting turbulence in stably stratified flows and thermal convection

Mahendra K. Verma

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Abstract

The properties of stably stratified turbulence and turbulent thermal convection are contrasted in this paper. A key difference between theses flows is the sign of the kinetic energy feed by buoyancy, FB. For SST, FB < 0 due to its stable nature; consequently, the kinetic energy flux Πu (k) decreases with wavenumber k that leads to a steep kinetic energy spectrum, Eu (k) ∼k?11/5. Turbulent convection is unstable, hence FB > 0 that leads to an increase of ?u(k) with k; this increase however, is marginal due to relatively weak buoyancy, hence Eu (k) ∼k?5/3, similar to that in hydrodynamic turbulence. This paper also describes the conserved fluxes for the above systems.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)064003
JournalPHYSICA SCRIPTA
Volume94
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 9 2019
Externally publishedYes

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